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Sunday, September 22, 2013

Crisp and Crunchy

A damp almost musty scent of wet leaves lingered
The air was crispy, the skye a bright blue
The sand now moist...
Wonderful what a few hours of steady rain can do.

Nevel and I had a good ride in the arena
Plenty of serpentines at the trot
And
A buck at the canter.
It is difficult to get him cantering

Then we walked to the "big wood"
And took the furthest trail to the right.
It is a steep trail up and then we had to trail blaze
Around a fallen limb.

Nevel kept a close eye on all of the large rocks and
once we got to the meadow, I mounted and rode him back home.
"Where's my treat mom???"
Crunchy Windfall apples
Colors of fall


Saturday, September 21, 2013

Is it going to RAIN or NOT???

Northern California does not usually get rain until November if I remember correctly-at least a rain that amounts to anything, but today the skies are very gray with a cool breeze rustling the dry leaves.
I usually wilt in the heat, so I am thankful for a drop in the temperature.
It seems like a perfect time to go visit my "pony."  The sky was getting pretty cloudy...

"Mom do you HAVE to take my picture AGAIN???
Nevel was a Mr. Buck-a-roo in the round pen when I first put his saddle on.
Then he tore around the pen at full speed and had Peppy rearing and bucking and racing all around in the field next to him.
I suppose the cooler weather gave Mr. Nevel some pep-r-roo!
But then when I asked him to actually "work" he slogged around at the slowest rate possible!  : )
Then looked at his saddle like it was something new.
 "NOW WHAT???"
It is sooooo DUSTY
My lovely shoes are caked with DUST
DUST in my NOSE
DUST probably in my TOES
But ride I MUST
FINALLY ABOARD
Between those Golden Ears!
Nevel was slightly mis-behaving when we started out
Dropping his nostrils in the dust  and basically not listening well,
But I kept after him 
And soon we were trotting serpentines in the arena with his head up
Then he offered a choppy canter...
So I slowed him back to trotting and then attempted the canter again.
BEAUTIFUL
He has a lovely sauntering trot
A barely rideable extended trot
And a lovely canter
Just BEAUTIFUL
A fellow boarder arrived and watched for a little bit.
She said it looked like he was doing well and that I looked good on him.
That was nice to hear since I am 5'10" and not sure how big he is.
Maybe tomorrow I can round up a measuring stick and see how tall he is.
He was close to 14'2 when I bought him, but I am most certain he has grown.
After riding, Nevel and I hung out under the oak trees and he snarfed around for acorns.
But darkening clouds heralded a storm
 Unfortunately the Chili Cook-off and Cool Car show got rained on in Rocklin.
Maybe the rain will bring an end to dusty shoes for awhile!

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Mt Langley via Cottonwood Lakes/Army Pass 2013

(One of the things I do when I am not with the "pony")

Our 2nd trip together to Mt Langley.
Last year I had altitude sickness and had to retreat
This year, I felt great and planned on making to the top of the 14,038 foot peak...
Mother Nature had other plans in the form of stinging sleet/hail and lightning...
Maybe next year: "Third Time is the Charm?"

No Bucks

Nevel was well behaved for lunging with his tack on
No Bucks Today
  : )
"Hayyyyy, are we going for a ride, or are you just going to stand there?"
We walked down the lane to "the Wild Side" then through the "Great Wood" to the Sewer road.
At the bottom of Sewer Road, he hollered and snorted for other horses, but none were to be found.
I mounted up and thought about taking him around the meadow, but then just decided to take him back up the way we had come.  He almost immediately spooked at the rock where the upper meadow trail splits off of Sewer road.  He did a quick bolt and tried to charge off into the weeds, but stopped pretty quickly for me.  Thankfully I kept my seat and we turned around to face the monster rock again.
This time he eyed it and then plodded on up the hill.  He eyed some other rocks and also a fallen log but did not react to them.  Later we saw a coyote sneaking in to the weeds.  (No pictures, I decided to keep both hands on the reins.)

We rode on back through the "great wood"  with him trying to trot, but I pulled him up since he was stumbling-not paying attention-to the staging area where I dismounted to cross the road...then remounted on the lane.  He was tender on the rocks and I guess I need to consider some boots for him.
Back in the round pen, I now notice that the pics I took have the reins snapped on wrong, but I did not ride him with them that way.
He did some minimal posing for me in his biothane tack and Duett Saddle.
There again with the reins snapped on wrong.
After untacking he snarfed around in the sand for acorns while I re-adjusted his bridle so that the nose piece falls down further on his nose.
We had a nice 2.5 hours together (45 min riding time)
Just need to start logging some more trail miles and will start looking for some slow company on the weekends.


Saturday, September 14, 2013

Walk on the Wild Side

Nevel and I started out around 9:30
A little round penning first
Then the saddle with the Comfort Girth (Frank Baines)

What a joke...at least as far as Nevel was concerned
Buck Buck Buck
So off with the CG and on with the ratty old ortho-flex girth
Buck Buck Buck
Hmmmm, ok, you are just being a brat?

I walked him up to the barn to get his bridle and breast collar
Tacked him up with it and then wandered down the trail
 He was well behaved-acted like there had not been a bucking session.
I hand walked him across the road and in to the woods (the wild side  : )
He snorted once and kept moving-well behaved
We turned left at Sewer Road and took the upper trail and looped back around
He investigated the "Sewer Monsters" with outstretched neck
Then decided they were boring
As we continued up the trail, someone called out "Hellooo."  They were riding Blue from the barn.
We followed Blue and rider down the Sewer Trail to the upper meadow trail.  Blue turned left and I kept Nevel going straight.  He whinnied and whinnied, but Blue did not even answer him and they soon disappeared out of sight.
Wow it was getting hot in the sun out there in the "Meadow."  I kept an eye out for snakes and Nevel kept an eye out for Blue.

We looped around, went past the junk piles from both directions then headed up the hill to the Sewer Trail again.
Nevel had another look and then we looped back around to the trail home.  Nevel thought he was done, but I thought it was time to get on and ride him.
He stood nicely while I mounted and then after a few false starts with him trying to hang out by his friends at the fence, we managed to trot around the arena in serpentines in various directions for about 20 min.
He was pretty well behaved-but does like to stop at the gate near the horse trailers.  He also likes to get his head way down to the dirt-but he actually did it less then the last time I rode him and he was paying attention nicely.

That seemed like a good stopping place-time for Carrots and back to the pasture.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Seat in the Saddle

This was the final day of my saddle trial...
Nevel decided to give it a taste..."mmmm, pretty tasty!"
I had not even sat on Nevel the whole week because I had been on a backpacking trip.
Dumb time to ask for a saddle trial...BUTT
 the saddle came much sooner than expected!
Nevel promptly relaxed after cinching and did not cooperate for "level" picture taking!
The Duett and thick Skito pad fit Mr. Fatz without rolling off when I put weight in the stirrup.  He stood still and then wobbled a little with the first step-probably due to the fact that I am "ms fatz" myself!  And then we wobbled around the arena for about 20 min.  Nevel was quite distracted since C was zipping about on the 4-wheeler feeding the other horses.

Also, there are new boarders on campus and one of them was racing all around in his pen.  Despite the distractions we did end with him listening extremely well when I said WOAH!  : )

The saddle was SO comfortable...the stirrups felt a little weird because I have to put them under the flap for the trial.  And now I see that I did not get a picture of his left side with the saddle on!
Then he posed for some shots that I need for my neice who owns the "Sinwaan" Blog
 to make a model of him
 The rascal keeps changing colors with the seasons and has dapples for the summer.
It won't be long before he is all furry for winter again!